6/12/03

Most of the empty bottles were discovered in 15 taped boxes in a closet.

By PEGGY SINKOVICH

and STEPHEN SIFF

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN -- More than 1,380 containers of air freshener and glass cleaner purchased by Trumbull County government appear to have been shipped from the vendor full of nothing but air.

County employees conducting an inventory of maintenance department storerooms last year found cases of empty bottles in a county-owned house on Harmon Avenue Northwest across from the administrative building.

Labels on the empty bottles included Glass Brite, Germ Bandit, Citrus Power and Odor Away, in lemon and cherry scents.

The bottles, however, smelled only of plastic, says a report obtained by The Vindicator.

The bottles were all bought from Envirochemical, the Bedford Heights company co-owned by Barry Jacobson.

Co-owner resigned as mayor: Jacobson resigned as mayor of Lyndhurst on Wednesday, the day the sale of his home in the Cleveland suburb was expected to go through.

"It seemed odd because why would the county pay for the empty bottles of the product when there was no filling stations -- no place to fill up the product here -- and we were paying for full bottles of the identical product," said Kathy Thompson, one of the county employees assigned to conduct the inventory.

The county spent more than $923,000 on janitorial supplies from Envirochemical over six years.

In many cases, the county paid several times more for products than the price Envirochemical lists in its catalog.

Glass Brite does not appear in Envirochemical's catalog, but according to county records, sold for $8 a bottle.

The county paid as much as $180 per case of Odor Away, records show. Citrus Power cost the county $65 a case.

County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins directed the janitorial supply inventory after a series of stories in The Vindicator detailed excessive spending and sloppy bookkeeping at the county maintenance department.

The section of the inventory detailing empty shipments was not included in the version of the report released to the public. Watkins did not explain why the version was not in the report.

Most of the empty bottles were found in 15 taped boxes in a closet at the Harmon Avenue house. An additional 70 bottles were in a bathtub in the house, Thompson said.

Employees conducting the inventory could not explain why the boxes were at the house and not with the other county supplies. The house is used to store old county records, and all county employees have access to it.

Amid the Vindicator series and after the inventory, the county ceased using Envirochemical and other informally selected suppliers and switched to a purchasing program run by the state.

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In September, Jacobson pleaded guilty to bribery and complicity to theft in office. He has not yet been sentenced.

In an affidavit presented by prosecutors a few weeks after the guilty plea,  he said he was given "carte blanche" to write out supply  orders for the county, regardless of need.